The two companies first partnered themselves together in 2007 to develop a plug in technology and have now decided that they would like to introduce themselves to a industrial joint venture.

The technology that Vattenfall and Volvo are hoping to develop is an electric car range which can be charged though a wall socket in peoples homes.

“We are investing in an industrial joint venture to series – produce plug in hybrid cars that can be powered by both electricity and diesel” said Stephen Odell, president and chief executive of the Volvo Car Corporation.

The president and chief executive of Vattenfall Lars G Josefsson added “We want to reinforce electricity’s importance in society and its key role in solving climate issues. Through this cooperation we hope to be able to speed up the introduction of electric cars”.   

Demonstrations of the new electric car will be held over the summer with the excepted launch of the vehicle earmarked for 2012.

By Andrew Nichol

 A spokeswoman for charity Friends of the Earth explained that meat being bought from abroad is cheaper than local produce because of the EU subsidies.

“In total, the meat and diary industry is responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions than all of the worlds transport put together” the spokeswoman said.

She added “So we are really concerned about that and we want governments to look at the ways in which supermarkets use their buying power to use meat that has been intensively reared in order to make enough money so that’s totally something that we are concerned about”.

The research conducted by greenpeace.org also showed that forests play a vital role in establishing the world’s climate by storing a lot of carbon that would otherwise contribute to climate change. The full report is available at http://www.greenpeace. org/international/press/reports/slaughtering-the-amazon

 By Andrew Nichol

Residents have been saving up to a third on their gas bills and saving up to half on their electricity bills with the new scheme.

Resident of Lozells Momota Rahman is living proof that going green works as she was one of the first to have her house fitted with these free solar panels back in March. “The best thing about all of this is saving money on my heating bills and because we have pre-payment metres we can see the savings straight away. “Before the panels were fitted we used to spend £3 a day on the gas metre and £2 each day on electric, and now it’s dropped to £2 on the gas metre and £1 a day on electricity. “This is so much better for me and for the family.”

Solar panels take energy from the sun and convert that using solar cells into energy that can be used in the house as electricity. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_panel)  Not only is this a cheaper way for residents to get electricity but it is also much more environmentally friendly. However, it is fine to have these solar panels fitted free of charge, but would people pay to have them fitted without proof as to how much money it would save them on their electricity bills.   

By Andrew Nichol

Smart meters monitor energy use and will allow households to take control of their energy bills and decide when to use energy. It will also indicate to homeowners, current energy prices. The government has set a target for all households to have smart meters installed by 2020.

However this has been challenged by the Institute for Public Policy Research, who have said that this process should be speeded up. Matthew Lockwood, senior fellow in the climate team at IPPR said “Nine in ten of the homes we will live in by 2020 have already been built, so we will need creative approaches to keep carbon reduction front of mind during a recession”.

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Resources/Daily-news/Energy-saving-products/Energy-saving-smart-meters-should-be-rolled-out-soon

Llewellyn who played Kryten in Red Dwarf presents the podcast, which features him, driving well known personalities around London and filming it for people to view on the Internet. 

Llewellyn was quoted on http://www.llewtube.com/wp/?page_id=14 saying “The idea started a few years ago when I recorded myself and comedian David Baddiel when he gave me a lift through London. The resulting tape was very funny because we soon forgot the camera was there and just chatted away, revealing far more than we would ever have done in a normal TV situation”

You can see Robert’s podcasts on http://www.llewtube.com or follow him on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/boobyllew. Podcasts so far include Robert chatting to English actor Nigel Planer and chat show host Jonathan Ross as he rushes him across London for a meeting in an electric car.  

Starting back in January and running till April ‘Carpool’ will have a total of 16 episodes once the experiment has finished and if you want to check them out on your iPod then they are also available for download on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/ WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=302529378

The new car will have carbon emissions of 139g/km. It will also reduce fuel consumption with the vehicle able to do 53.3 miles per gallon. The Zafira Ecoflex has a 1.7 litre advanced diesel engine which will provide the seven seater vehicle with acceleration of 0-60mph in 12.6 seconds with a top speed of 112mph. (http://www. vauxhall.co.uk/vaux/pages/cars/vehicleRange/Zafira/index.jsp)  

Reducing car emissions is something that car manufacturers are now trying to do as they look to protect the environment. Car emissions are how much carbon dioxide cars release into the air while they are in use. A high carbon emission car would release above 200 g/km, however a more eco friendly car would release about 100g/km. So the new Vauxhall is within a good range and is very eco friendly.

Jaguar, a firm based in the Birmingham area, tends to produce cars with high emissions. Their S Type cars have emissions as high as 294 g/km. Generally, it is bigger cars such as Jaguars that are the worst offenders. Ferrari though, are the worst, with their 599 GTB Fiorano giving out 490 g/km. (http://www.whatprice.co.uk/car/ carbon-emissions.html)

Another contributor to carbon emissions is the place these cars do their business, the roads. The M25 motorway is proposing in the future to develop 63 miles of its motorway and increase it from six lanes to eight lanes. (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk /standard/article-23575172 details/Turmoil+could+stall+5bn+scheme+to+widen+the+ M25/article.do) This will take place between junctions 5 and 6 and junctions 16-23. Not only will this cost five billion pounds in a time of financial crisis for this country but more importantly it will increase carbon emissions for that stretch of road by about 135,000 tonnes per year. While increasing motorway lanes is designed to reduce traffic congestion and make things easier for road users we must remember that it also increases carbon emissions. (http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/system/files /Better_Transport_comments_on_M25_junctions_16-23_Environmental Statement. pdf)

The main problem here is still the amount of carbon emissions that cars give out. In February 2007 the EU Environment Commissioner Dimas proposed a mandatory reduction of CO2 emissions. In this reduction it said all new cars should aim to have emissions of 130 g/km by 2012. If this could be achieved, and there is no reason why it can’t be, as there are already plenty of cars on the market at or under 130g/km, such as the new Vauxhall Zafria, then there will be a big difference in the amount of pollution our cars are letting into the atmosphere. (http://www.motoring.co.za/index .php?fArticleId =3669316)

By Andrew Nichol